Holy Opposites 16

	Back at the temple, Axio shed his layers.  He stripped all of his nighttime and stealth dress, until all he had left was his armor, cape, and shield.  He affixed his badge of office – a combination second holy symbol and anointed icon of Ryaire, which proclaimed him her Chosen and the nominal leader of the Church – to his breastplate, and whispered a prayer to Ryaire under his breath.  He would need temperance today, but more importantly, restraint.  He could be wading into a hostage situation, and even if no children had been taken that night, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be others.

	He slid his sword back into its sheath and took a deep breath.  One last stop to make.


	The Watch officer stared at the two armored Paladins in his posting with unhidden alarm.  “Uh… well, yes, sir, the Orsar is here,” he said.  Orsars were equivalent to Captains in the Guard.  Why they didn’t just use the same ranks was beyond Axio.  “I’ll, uh… I’ll go get him.”

	“Thank you,” Axio said politely.  “This is urgent.”

	The Watchman bustled into the back and emerged moments later with a wizened old human woman with a badge pinned to her chest in his wake.  “Yes, I’m Orsar Flannigan,” she said at once.  “What’s the emergency?”

	“We found a nest of gargoyles in the Trade Ward last night, one we believe to be under the control of the men kidnapping the children around the city,” Axio explained.  “We surveilled it last night, and found the place to be containing at least two of the creatures.”

	The Orsar cocked her head.  “Really.  Last night, you say?”

	“Yes.”

	She shook her head.  “They may be gargoyles, but I don’t think they’re related to the disappearances.”

	Axio tilted his head back in surprise.  “Explain, please.  We have found evidence that gargoyles were involved.”

	“We interrupted a kidnapping in progress last night,” Flannigan said with a thin smile.  “There were no gargoyles there.  Maybe six men, but no beasts.”

	Axio and Cavria exchanged a look.  “We saw a gargoyle returning to the store last night, just before sunrise.  Was there no way a gargoyle could have been present for your raid and simply left when it went sour?”

	The Orsar glared.  “I know my business, Paladin.  We were watching the sky.  There was no gargoyle.”

	“We found evidence of a flying beast,” Cavria said.  She listed out the experiences she and Axio had had already, describing in detail their interview with the family of the stolen child and their meeting with Amsha.  When she was done, the Orsar looked doubtful.

	“So there’s gargoyles in the city, alright,” she said.  “Where, you say?”

	Axio filled her in on the details of their stakeout.  The Orsar cocked her head when he mentioned the second gargoyle.  “Humph.  This second one… when did it arrive?”

	“I’d say two hours ago,” Axio said.

	The two Watch looked at each other.  “That’s about when we scared off the kidnappers,” the junior one remarked.  “Maybe you’re actually on to something.”

	“So how should we delegate responsibilities now?” Axio asked.

	“We’ll pursue this group of people from last night,” the Orsar said.  “You chase down any leads at the local temples from abductions that may have gone unreported.”  Cavria looked stunned, but held her tongue.

	“Why not just kill the gargoyles?” Axio asked.

	“You could,” the Orsar allowed.  “Do you want us to join you?”

	Axio shook his head.  “No, thank you,” he said.  “My partner and I can handle the place by ourselves, I think.  We just need to nip back to the temple and pick up a few things.”

	“Then do so.  Come back alive, Paladins.”  Flannigan snapped off a salute.

	Axio saluted, though technically he didn’t need to, since he was of a different service.  “Can do, Orsar.”


	Outside, Cavria rounded on him, still looking surprised.  “And that’s it?”

	Axio blinked.  “Huh?”

	“She just believes us?  We didn’t have to take her there or anything?  After all that rudeness at the beginning?” Cavria demanded.

	Axio shrugged.  “We’re offering divine aid in a kidnapping case against the slaves of the Hate God.  Is she going to say no?  Especially when we may find a solid lead she completely missed,” he said.  “Don’t forget, somebody higher up is mandating that they come to us for help.  If we turn up something useful, they’ll forget their recalcitrance pretty fast.”

	Cavria resumed walking.  “I guess I just wasn’t expecting people to trust us without jumping through fiery hoops,” she admitted.  “I suppose things work differently when they can’t see who I am,” she added under her breath.

	Axio caught up to her and walked aside.  “Well, not everybody is as reasonable as her, it’s true, but sometimes you get lucky.”


	Now, now… wasn’t that interesting?  Who she is?

	Embersson detached himself from the wall behind the pair of Paladins, where he had been snacking on his own stakeout of the Watch post.  He had been planning to watch the local law, since they had been so inconvenient to his employer the night before, but now these self-righteous sorts were sticking their noses in.  What had the woman meant?

	He had barely heard her, and wouldn’t have heard her at all had he not been wearing his magic ring of observation.  He looked from the Paladins to the Watch post and back, wondering where his priorities lay.

	The Watch post wasn’t leaving, he decided, but these Paladins were becoming interesting.  He slid out the shadows and fell into step behind them.  He was wearing his brown cloak today, with every article of clothing different from what he had worn the last time he had been out on a tail.  Being memorable was never a good idea, but being familiar was nearly as bad.

	Embersson fell in behind the Paladins, trailing them.  He risked getting closer than he had before, just in case the woman repeated her earlier thought.


	Axio led the duo into the market district.  “Now, we can check any temple in the city for more reports of abductions.  The thing is, if I were a parent who were reporting a missing child, and didn’t trust the Watch, the temple I’d go do would actually be ours,” he said thoughtfully.  “Wouldn’t you think?”

	“Yes.  Did anybody at the temple report a child abduction?” Cavria asked.

	“Well, yes, actually, several,” Axio said.  “That was part of what Friar Dreblin told me.  The others would be Ilmater, I suppose, if you knew the child was alive, or perhaps Mielikki, if you were trying to hunt the criminals… but, really, we may have more luck simply going over the original list and trying to find the most recent successful kidnapping,” he admitted.  “It seems they don’t actually bring the gargoyles all the way to the end of the abduction if they don’t need them.  Certainly, they don’t stage together.”

	Cavria shook her head.  “This is too complicated.  It would be easier to just kill the families, wouldn’t it?”

	“Much,” Axio said heavily.  The Aasimar soldier ran his hands over his eyes.  “I admit the fact that they’re taking pains to keep the families alive and the neighbors undisturbed is troubling.  It’s like they want the fear.”

	“Maybe they do,” Cavria said.  Her face darkened behind her disguise magic.  “Dark gods are basically like devils, you know.  Fear is a powerful tool, to people like that.”

	“Yes,” Axio agreed.  He looked over.  Cavria was looking down at the road as she walked.  “Are you all right?”

	“I’m just remembering how scared people were when they arrived at the Arbor,” she said softly.  “The little ones, especially.  They just wanted to go home.”  She blew out a breath.  “I don’t get why the bad guys are always the ones to push the balance.  I don’t get why good has to be reactive, while evil is just active.”

	Axio rested one huge hand on her shoulder.  It wasn’t much smaller than her head.  “I know, but remember: we can be active.  We can push out into the world, we can sing the faith to those who haven’t heard it… we can go adventuring, too,” he said.  “Bane may have the upper hand, but we can beat this, and then some.”

	“Yeah.”  She reached up and squeezed his hand.  “Okay.”


	Embersson cocked his brow as he listened.  Interesting.  So, they weren’t after him and his sponsor, specifically.  Just the cult in general, it seemed.  The woman had been to a place called the ‘arbor.’.  Philosophical doubts, too.  He moved another few feet closer and strained his ears.  He saw them divert down the road towards their temple, though, and hid his disappointment.  He had to disengage, and return to the Watch station.  His job wasn’t over.


	I looked up at the sky above and tried to find some comfort in the bright sun on my skin.  The walk around the city wasn’t helping me clear my thoughts.  I had to force myself to acknowledge that this was the sort of bullshit the Watch had to deal with all the time.  They had to put up with this uncertainty, the reactions to evil, and the wasted time.  It wasn’t easy, but I had to do it.

	In the temple, we stood in the meager armory and anointed ourselves for battle.  Axio slung his dart and sword for easy drawing, and secured a very short cape to his shoulders, which he could pull off into a sling.  I had my javelin and my glaive, which would be more than enough when coupled with my fists.  My fiend nature irritates me, but it makes me strong enough to punch through wood and stone, and that should been enough, I thought.

	Still, I was scared.  As a fiend, my nature meant that if I died, I would probably return to Hell and reform there for punishment torture by the other High Succubae who happened to be present at the time… but as I had a true soul, I could theoretically be exempt from that.  Ryaire had sworn to fetch my soul if it came to that, but she couldn’t overrule mighty Kelemvor.  Ao could, perhaps, but he wouldn’t interfere to stop a travesty of justice.  Everybody knows that.

	I sighed and held my glaive close.  I had to have faith.  Faith in my own power and Ryaire’s shield of unconditional love.